James Taylor posted this photo of Jimmy Buffett and himself to social media, Sept. 2.
In his concert tonight (Sept. 4) at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, James Taylor paid tribute to his friend Jimmy Buffett, who died on Sept. 1, at the age of 76, of skin cancer.
Taylor spoke about Buffett before performing his own 1975 hit, “Mexico.” In the video below, you can watch the speech (which begins at around the 1:50 mark) and the performance of “Mexico,” after it. (At around the video’s 5:30 mark, a series of photos of Taylor and Buffett together can be seen on the stage’s back screen.)
“I’d like to just take a minute and say how much I’m gonna miss my friend Jimmy Buffett — we really all will,” said Taylor. “It came as a real shock, to lose him like this. You just figured there would always be Jimmy Buffett. So we’re going to dedicate this song to him.
“It’s a song of mine that he covered, and that he and I performed numerous times when he’d invite me onstage during his set. He was the consummate showman and just a guy who shared his joy of being alive with all of us. So it’s a great loss, to lose Jimmy Buffett.”
Here is the video and, below it, a video of the two performing “Mexico” together at a 2013 benefit concert.
Taylor made a similar speech about Buffett, Sept. 3 at the Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York. You can watch a video of that HERE.
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes performed Buffett’s “Margaritaville” in tribute to him at the Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park, Sept. 2. Click HERE to see a video of that.
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